possibility. It is subject, in fact, to all sorts of restrictions, of which the most important are due to the second principle.
§ 8. Carnot's Principle. Its Generality.
The second fundamental principle is that of the
transformations of equilibrium, or of the conditions
of reversibility, or again, Carnot's principle. This
principle, which first assumed a concrete form in
thermodynamics, has been very widely extended. It
has reached a degree of generality such that contemporary
theoretical physicists such as Lord Kelvin, Le
Chatelier, etc., consider it the universal law of
physical, mechanical, and chemical equilibrium.
Carnot's principle contains, as was shown by G. Robin, d'Alembert's principle of virtual velocities, and according to physicists of to-day, as we have just remarked, it contains the laws peculiar to physico-chemical equilibrium. The application of this principle gives us the differential equations from which are derived numerical relations between the different energies, or the different modalities of universal energy.
Its Character.—It is very remarkable that we cannot give a general enunciation of this principle which by its revealing power has changed the face of physics. This is because it is less a law, properly so called, than a method or manner of interpreting the relations of the different forms of energy, and particularly the relations of heat and mechanical energy.
Conversion of Work into Heat and Vice-versâ.—The conversion of work into heat is accomplished without difficulty. For example, the hammering of a piece of
